A solicitor who claimed to have worked 28 hours in a single day in an attempt to secure a £70,000 bonus has been struck off. Samina Ahmed, 46, was found to have falsified her timesheets while working at Tuckers Solicitors in Manchester.
The Solicitors' Disciplinary Tribunal heard that Ahmed recorded 7,511.70 hours over 266 days, averaging more than 28 hours per day. On 133 occasions, she claimed to have worked more than 24 hours in a day, which the tribunal deemed 'an impossibility'.
Ahmed had been employed as a prison law solicitor at the firm for 17 years. Her work was funded by the Legal Aid Agency. Between July 2021 and June 2022, she routinely recorded time she had not worked, even claiming hours exceeding the number in a day, in order to qualify for a bonus of up to 400 per cent of her salary, which could have reached £69,300.
The firm noticed the discrepancies and held a meeting in April 2022, but Ahmed continued to falsify her timesheets. She was subsequently dismissed. The false claims cost the Legal Aid Agency £98,093, which Tuckers Solicitors had to repay.
The tribunal found that Ahmed 'acted dishonestly and without integrity' and that her conduct was 'at the highest level' of seriousness. She was struck off the Roll of Solicitors and ordered to pay £5,000 in costs, reduced from £49,600 due to her limited financial means. Ahmed, a single mother of three, now works as an apprentice for Wigan Council and receives universal credit and child benefit.
